Organic chemistry is a class well known to be difficult and necessary for many careers in the sciences, and as a result, has garnered interest in researching ways to improve student learning and comprehension. One potential way involves using eye tracking techniques to understand how students visually examine questions. Organic chemistry involves…

Effectively evaluating the credibility and accuracy of multiple sources is critical for college readiness. We developed 24 source evaluation tasks spanning four predicted difficulty levels of a hypothesized learning progression (LP) and piloted these tasks to evaluate the utility of an LP-based approach to designing formative literacy assessments.…

The purpose of this study was to describe the development of a valid and reliable rubric to assess secondary-level solo instrumental music performance based on principles of invariant measurement. The research questions that guided this study included (1) What is the psychometric quality (i.e., validity, reliability, and precision) of a scale…

We expect that word knowledge accumulates gradually. This article draws on earlier approaches to assessing depth, but focuses on one dimension: richness of semantic knowledge. We present results from a study in which three distinct item types were developed at three levels of depth: knowledge of common usage patterns, knowledge of broad topical…

A procedure which employs a method of item substitution based on item difficulty is recommended for developing parallel criterion referenced test forms. This procedure is currently being used in the Florida functional literacy testing program and the Georgia teacher certification testing program. Reasons for developing parallel test forms involve…